Birds changing peoples behaviour

[moozy]

I great thing has happened over this last couple of weeks, I work as a construction trainer in the westend of newcastle (a rough area) with teenagers with behaviour issues.
Two weeks I put up a white board and ask them to write down any birds they spot from the car park and 2 weeks on we have quite few on the list, e.g lesser blackbacked gulls, black headed gulls, heron gulls, pied wagtail, blackbirds, robins, buzzards, magpies, grey heron, crows, rooks, and starlings and many more.
But the best thing about this is there behaviour has vastly improved and I think this is down to the birds, they are calm because they are tuning in to nature.

[Deb London]

Well done moozy. That sounds like a really worthwhile job, and a fantastic result!

[faz]

any thing to keep them from trouble is worth my vote well done

[rossy]

had something similar last year whilst watching peregrines, a group of dodgy looking chaps asked to what i was observing, so let them have a look , they thanked me, and one said to the rest , thats the bird i saw when i was in strangeways ( prison) eating a pigeon, had a chat with them and explained , bird watching is not an expensive hobby, you can go and sit on the moors for hours and enjoy listening , watching for nowt, whether any have ,ive no idea , but it gave them something else to focus on, rossy.

[moozy]

Thanks everyone, I think it's the wildlife and themselves more than me, They just need someone with a little bit knowledge to guide them and explain and hopefully some of it will stay with them, and some construction skills too

[Wild-Woman]

How about getting them to construct a bird box of some type? Take it a stage further. Just an idea.

[bob.phillips]

What a great thread. It just goes to show that a little help to those 'not in the know', goes a long way towards pointing them in the right direction.

Bob P.

[Kayleigh]

I find it so sad that kids grow up not seeing or hearing nature/birds its so important for well being they grow up in concrete jungles not even knowing where their food comes from no wonder lots of them go off the rails..
Good on you for showing them a little piece of nature hope its sowed a seed that will grow and grow..

[actionfinch]

good for you moozy....its seems to have changed me
Even on the golf course yesterday , i spent more time looking for birds once i see a green woodpecker than i did looking at my ball,Im more aware of my surroundings and respect something ,thats taken a few years to realize can give some much enjoyment/pleasure.

[moozy]

I hope it did'nt put you of your swing action finch,

Good idea wild-women, I got my colleague to take a lesson on how to build a bird box and it went ok, we have 1 and half biult so far,

We have made planters before for a local hospice when we have had new deal clients with us.